September 6, 2019

The Vancouver Park Board will not apply for a court injunction to clear homeless people from a Downtown Eastside park despite pressure from Mayor Kennedy Stewart, who suggested Wednesday that holdouts need a “nudge” to get them to leave.

Park board chair Stuart Mackinnon said commissioners voted in an in-camera meeting Thursday against a recommendation from its own staff to apply for an injunction because the move could displace people into more dangerous areas.

“We do not believe that seeking an injunction from the courts with the goal of clearing people from Oppenheimer Park will bring us anywhere nearer to a true solution,” Mackinnon said at a press conference on Friday.

“Simply removing people from Oppenheimer Park, which may force them onto the streets, the back lanes and into other parks, is not the solution.”